


COOLfast

by bevgbates



Series: <Jaine> [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Avant Garde, Cyberpunk, Dark, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 07:37:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4952008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bevgbates/pseuds/bevgbates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As functional difficulties stack up, Jaine struggles under their pressure, and her power to control her own abilities begins to weaken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	COOLfast

_Excessive use can lead to lung complications, heart complications, nervous system complications, muscular system complications…_

The list of the reasons why Jaine shouldn’t take the medication that she had picked up for curbing her most recent issue covered the bottle.She shook her head out of tired frustration, causing  the wires hanging from the back of her skull to sway back and forth. Her brain was heating up.

Jaine sighed audibly, now aware of their weight and the repercussions they brought, and replaced the bottle of COOLfast back on the shelf. She looked over at the clerk who had been eyeing her suspiciously for the ten minutes that she had been scouring the drug store. He was a hairless dwarf, a rare sight and probably a victim of a hate crime. Or a muꞡgiᵰg. Or reۿȅnge. Or…

ⅎʉƇʞ

Jaine quickly pressed the button that lived inconspicuously behind her left ear and took a deep breath as her brain cooled off, her consciousness clearing up.

She looked again at the dwarf, who sat up.

“If yer gonna…” he coughed, choked up some phlegm, spit it into a nearby trashcan, and resumed speaking, “If yer gonna buy anything, buy it.”

Jaine nodded and looked back at the shelf. She reached again for the COOLfast but hesitated. A loud _DING_ punctuated the store, and she heard that same gruff voice, “COOLfast will run you 15 coins. Pay up.”

“What if I don’t…”

“Pay up or I’ll call the cops you feckin’ hack!”

“¡Ħ|AℂK!”

The caḅ⬐les fȨeꝈ liƘe chaƗnʂ + I {ERROR}… ~``~ OH FUCK~`!!!

</Jaine>

…

<screams>

…

<flesh exploding>

…

<!!INITIATING SYSTEM REBOOT>

…

</flesh exploding>

…

</screams>

...

<Jaine>

holyfuckholyfuckholyfuckholyfuckholyfuck

The pain rocketed from her feet to her head and exploded in her brain, and for a moment she thought she could just see…

No.

Nothing.

Definitely not him.

<!!REBOOT COMPLETE>

Jaine sank to her knees as her consciousness regained control. She opened her eyes slowly, smarting from the light, and that smell.

That smell.

Blood.

_Shit._

The dwarf was lying on the grimy floor, his lifeless eyes staring at Jaine as the blood pooled closer to her like fingers. The gaping blackish reddish hole on his forehead matched the countless others on his body. Everything was covered in his viscera: the floor, the cash register, the clock on the wall, Jaine...everything.

Then his mouth moved.

_< its not real>_

He stood

<its not real>

“You killed me, hȧcꝄ!”

<IT’S NOT REAL>

A gun barrel, a feeling her temple knew well, jabbed itself into Jaine’s head and exploded her brains all over the walls. Ghostly hands reached up from the floor and began tearing her apart, and the dwarf’s face loomed in closer than anything else.

“Yer dead, freak.”

 

<IT’S NOT REAL, JAINE>

 

Jaine stood, squeezed her formerly white blouse to drain as much blood as she could, snatched the COOLfast, and took 6..no..7 pills. She was okay. She was fine. She was…

Calm.

“Have you ever called me by my name before, Frank?”

<I told you, my name is Charles>

“Whatever”

<Your brain patterns are back to normal>

Icy chills caused her to shiver as she took a tentative step outside into the summer evening. COOLfast works fast.

“Accurate name,” Jaine mumbled to nobody in particular and started her cautious walk home.

He was right, the dwarf, just in case the cables and - let’s call it - killing ability weren’t obvious enough. Jaine was a hack.

(AND HACKS HAVE NO PLACE IN SOCIETY!!!!!!!)

The bottle smashed a little too close for comfort, splashing Jaine’s leg with a substance smelling strongly of vodka. She looked for the source, but he, she, or it was gone, although the snickers were audible. Jaine just shook her sneakers, now soaked with two substances, and continued walking.

<You’re going to get caught you know>

“No, I won’t. Nobody does. The cops are too busy with the Julius guy to worry about a…”

<Murder>

“Yeah, one of those.”

<You are a murderer>

“No. A civilian has to have a body count higher than 10 to be considered a murderer. That's the law they made so they could ignore the homeless.”

<He was your tenth>

_“Higher than.”_

<Liar! Equal to or higher than>

“Fuck really?”

<Yes>

“Oh well. If I die you’re coming with me.”

<That is true>

“So don’t let me die.”


End file.
